


Tragedy

by Dess



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/M, Reincarnation, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-01
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-06-05 16:41:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6712828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dess/pseuds/Dess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time she chooses, she is struck by grief.<br/>The second time she chooses, her judgement is clouded by warmth.<br/>The next time...she remembers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tragedy

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little fic snippet about Corrin, who's reincarnated each time she chooses a side.  
> (As I'm European, I didn't play the game yet so I know next to nothing about the plot (I've been avoiding spoilers like the plague)...which means, I might've gotten a few things wrong :S Also, I'm not a native speaker, so if you find any grammar or spelling mistakes, please tell me!)

The first time she chooses, she is struck by grief. With her mother dead (no matter how close they were or how long they knew each other) and her real family resurfaced, she feels betrayed. How long did they know? How long did they scheme? The choice feels easier than it should and neither Elise’s despaired cry nor Leon’s cold stare can move her in her will.  
Time flies by and she finds herself seeking comfort, finding it in her youngest sister’s soft smile, her other sister’s energetic manner, her elder brother’s kindness. Her younger brother, Takumi, seems distant (almost like Leon - but no, she must not think of it) yet she finds it endearing and grows used to it in no time. She falls in love with a fox spirit (one of the sweeter kind) and soon there's addition to their little family, a tiny bit of beauty between all the war and death. Her life is filled with perfection (almost, but she tries to forget) after the war is won, when her time has come... 

And yet…and yet...

The second time she chooses, her judgement is clouded by warmth. She never knew her Hoshidan kin but Nohr, the Nohrian royals have always been welcoming to her. How can she turn on her one and only family? She would never, not after all those years. Her fate is bound by loyalty, she says, loyalty that will not be swayed, neither by the scorching sorrow the youngest Hoshidan downright radiates nor by the eldest prince’s enraged shouts.

Seldom, in deepest nights, bitter regret finds her; what if she went with them, her blood kin? She seeks solace to escape the thought, finds it in Camilla’s embrace and Elise’s cheerful laugh. They are a family, they always were. They always will be.

This time a man she calls her childhood friend catches her eye, a man she does not really know (even though she’s supposed to - haven't they spent their childhood together?). Being close to him again feels as natural as breathing and when he finally embraces her, her head feels full of clouds and her heart sings. Her children’s smiles are as warm as the sun in this world and it isn’t until she passes _him_ (all claws and bristled fur and fire) in battle that she is struck by a sudden sense of longing, as if she lost something very dear to her and found it right before her eyes but just out of her reach. He doesn’t stop, there is no trace of recognition in his eyes and she can’t help but wonder; why of all things is it an enemy fighter that stirs this feeling of intimacy, of someone she knew long before? She’ll never know but when he falls (the pain and blood are too gruesome to bear), she throws herself into the battle, drowning out the bitter grief that’s clawing at her insides. Today is not the day she dies however dearly she might wish for it. Today she is victorious - although it does not last. 

And in the end, all it takes is a moment of lowering her guard, not paying attention for a second and an all too eager blade that ends up being driven through her chest.  
She falls without a sound, her thoughts scattered and confused. This was not how it was supposed to be, not the right path after all…it seems…

The next time she’s about to choose, memories flood her mind and she just stops, recalling nothing but the pain, the loss, the hatred and despair. The paths are equal, so she reckons, both leaving nothing but destruction in their trail as they carve their way to victory. No matter whom she picks, her choice will equal death. And yet there’s no escape, it’s a dead end, no one to take the burden of two kingdom’s lives from her shoulders. She wonders if her fate was always this, to live, to choose, to serve, to kill. To die and wake again and to repeat the same mistakes. A cruel joke, that’s what her fate seems to be made of.  
And she just has to laugh.

Because her fate (if one such thing ever existed) - is wrong. Because she will refuse. Her gaze falls onto Nohr, then Hoshido and all she sees is death that is to come again and yet again. And so she stands before them, not for the first but for the last time. Her words are filled with ease and finally, at last she feels like she is breaking through her fate.

“I will not choose.”


End file.
